Why is padel so popular? The rise and rise of the smash hit racquet sport

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By Chris Howse: Programme and Digital Editor

One of the world’s fastest growing sports is quickly becoming the must-play game in Britain with clubs developing new courts to keep up with huge demand.

Worldwide around 30 million people play the fast-paced sport of padel which is easy to learn and hard to put down.

David Lloyd in Southend is among clubs building new padel courts to keep up with the surge in popularity.

Racquets Manager Jon Lee said new players loved the game because the basics were quick to learn.

“I think that padel has become popular because it's a lot easier to pick up than a lot of other racquet sports,” Jon said.

“With tennis we have a lot of complex grips, a lot of changes and a lot of positions to play your shots.

“With padel you can put somebody in a so-called shake-hands grip in a much smaller court.

“It’s a lot easier to build rallies than some other racquet sports,” Jon explained.

Internationally padel is most popular in Spain where around six million people are estimated to play the game.

The courts are designed for doubles and are around 25% smaller than a tennis court.

The type of ball used for padel looks similar to tennis but there are some differences.

Both the ball pressure and diameter are lower but the overall weight between a tennis and padel ball is the same.

Holes in padel racquets mean they are a lot lighter which helps improve control and increases the size of the ‘sweet spot’ where the ball is hit best.

“It's all doubles so from a social aspect it's a very sociable sport,” Jon added.

“The other is size of court, we're playing on something an awful lot smaller [than tennis] and the other big difference is that we have the glass wall at the back and part of the sides.

“So that's slightly more similar to squash, where we will let some balls go and come back off the glass to play the shot back into play,” Jon said.

Despite its recent popularity the origins of padel can be traced back more than a century when the sport was played at sea.

“Padel first began in the 1910s on cruise ships,” Jon explained.

“It was then called Platform Tennis and it was where it started out.

“Years down the line there was a guy in Mexico and in 1969 he got tired of picking up the tennis balls all the time.

“At his mansion he was having to get the balls off the sides of the court.

“So he built some concrete walls around it and that was one of the first origins of where padel began,” Jon added.

Padel is often seen as a cross between tennis and squash with scoring the same as tennis.

A group of expats set up the British Padel Association in the early 1990s and more recently the Lawn Tennis Association made the sport part of its operation.

The LTA said it wanted to take padel “to the next level” and make the sport more accessible, welcoming, enjoyable and inspiring.

And Jon Lee expects the demand and number of courts to keep growing at David Lloyd in Southend.

He said: “There’s a plan over the next couple of years, I know that we've got at least 60 new courts going into all the David Lloyd clubs.

“But I can see that spreading further.

“We don't want to be losing too many tennis courts but I think a mix of racquet sports is a good thing going forward.

“And I can see across the clubs we're going to get a lot more of that.”

Jon also had some advice for anyone who hasn’t tried padel, he said: “Come and give it a go!

“I found it one of the quickest racquet sports for people to pick up and we've had many members who’ve tried it.

“They picked up the game within 10 to 15 minutes and they’re now playing the game.”

Among them is new padel player Kash Martin who loves the sport and the people he’s met playing it.

“The one thing I love about playing padel it's very, very social,” Kash said.

“You can connect with different people now - I just love it.

“It's made it more fun and more sociable, it’s a great addition.”

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